Foreign Exchange Reserves
The usable foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 6,919 million (3.70 months of import cover). This falls short of CBK’s statutory requirement to endeavour to maintain at least 4.0 months of import cover as well as the EAC region’s convergence criteria of 4.5 months of import cover.
Currency
The Kenyan Shilling appreciated against the Dollar but depreciated against the Sterling Pound and the Euro to exchange at KES 142.80, KES 182.21 and KES 155.67 respectively. The observed appreciation against the Dollar is attributed to improved diaspora remittances and tourism inflows.
| Currency | YTD Change | W-o-W Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dollar | -9.04% | -0.50% |
| Sterling Pound | -8.82% | 0.25% |
| Euro | -10.36% | 0.01% |
Liquidity
Liquidity in the money markets increased, with the average inter-bank rate decreasing from 14.09% to 13.55%, as government payments more than offset tax remittances. Open market operations remained active.
| Liquidity | Week (previous) | Week (ending) |
|---|---|---|
| Interbank rate | 14.09% | 13.55% |
| Interbank volume (billion) | 15.65 | 20.54 |
| Commercial banks’ excess reserves (billion) | 27.40 | 20.00 |
Fixed Income
T-Bills
T-Bills were over-subscribed during the week, with the overall subscription rate increasing to 174.24%, up from 99.47% recorded in the previous week. The 91-day T-Bill received the highest subscription rate at 515.47% while the 182-day T-Bill and 364-day T-Bill had subscription rates of 100.63% and 111.35% respectively. The acceptance rate increased by 0.43% to close the week at 96.32%.
T-Bonds
In the secondary bond market, there was a lower demand for the week’s bond offers. Bond turnover decreased by 30.77%, from KES 52.36 billion in the previous week to KES 36.24 billion. Total bond deals decreased by 28.78% from 1,164 in the previous week to 829.
In the primary bond market, CBK released auction results for the re-opened 3-year bond FXD1/2024/003 which sought to raise KES 40.0 billion. The issues received bids worth KES 43.07 billion, representing a subscription rate of 107.69%. Of these, KES 34.27 billion worth of bids were accepted at a weighted average rate of 18.42%.
Eurobonds
In the international market, yields on Kenya’s Eurobonds decreased by an average of 0.33% compared to the previous week, 0.23% month-to-date and 0.55% year-to-date. The yields on the 10-year Eurobonds for Angola also declined while that of Zambia increased. Below is a summary analysis of performance for individual bonds.
| Bond | YTD Change | M-o-M Change | W-o-W Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 10-Year Issue | -0.78% | -0.23% | -0.31% |
| 2018 30-Year Issue | -0.11% | -0.17% | -0.20% |
| 2019 7-Year Issue | -1.37% | -0.25% | -0.63% |
| 2019 12-Year Issue | -0.33% | -0.21% | -0.28% |
| 2021 13-Year Issue | -0.02% | -0.21% | -0.23% |
| 2024 6-Year Issue | -0.71% | -0.32% | -0.33% |
Equities
NASI, NSE 20, NSE 25 and NSE 10 settled 1.77%, 1.10%, 1.27% and 1.40% higher compared to the previous week, bringing the year-to-date performance to 3.19%, 3.13%, 5.77% and 5.99% respectively. Market capitalization also gained 1.77% from the previous week to close at KES 1.48 trillion, recording a year-to-date increase of 3.18%. The performance was driven by gains recorded by large-cap stocks such as EABL, Stanbic and Safaricom of 8.75%, 4.13% and 2.96% respectively. This was however weighed down by the losses recorded by Co-operative and KCB of 3.07% and 2.36% respectively.
The Banking sector had shares worth KES 237.4M transacted which accounted for 30.82% of the week’s traded value, Manufacturing and Allied sector had shares worth KES 1.49M transacted which represented 19.36% and Safaricom, with shares worth KES 344.8M transacted represented 44.76% of the week’s traded value.
Top Gainers and Losers in the Equities Markets
| Top Gainers | YTD Change | W-o-W |
|---|---|---|
| Transcentury | -9.62% | 17.50% |
| Sanlam | 17.00% | 14.71% |
| Sameer | 5.73% | 14.29% |
| Liberty | 42.49% | 10.00% |
| EA Breweries | -1.08% | 8.75% |
| Losers | YTD Change | W-o-W |
|---|---|---|
| ScanGroup | -1.38% | -8.51% |
| Kenya Power | 7.14% | -7.41% |
| Standard Group | -28.94% | -5.82% |
| BOC Kenya | -7.32% | -5.00% |
| EA Cables | 2.04% | -4.76% |
Alternative Investments
| Losers | Week (previous) | Week (ending) | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Derivatives Turnover (million) | 6.05 | 1.51 | -75.05% |
| Derivatives Contracts | 47.00 | 15.00 | -68.09% |
| I-REIT Turnover (million) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| I-REIT deals | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Global and Regional Markets
| Global Markets | YTD Change | W-o-W |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 8.03% | -0.26% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) | 2.67% | -0.93% |
| FTSE 100 (FTSE) | -0.80% | -0.30% |
| STOXX Europe 600 | 5.17% | 1.14% |
| Shanghai Composite (SSEC) | 2.83% | 0.63% |
| MSCI Emerging Markets Index | 1.21% | 1.21% |
| MSCI World Index | 7.01% | 0.81% |
| Continental Markets | YTD Change | W-o-W |
|---|---|---|
| FTSE ASEA Pan African Index | -10.27% | -6.86% |
| JSE All Share | -2.94% | 1.45% |
| NSE All Share (NGSE) | 33.35% | 2.61% |
| DSEI (Tanzania) | 0.17% | -0.18% |
| ALSIUG (Uganda) | 6.59% | 1.59% |
The US stock market ended the week in the red zone, weighed down by a cooling off in the chip sector. This was largely driven by a steep decline in Nvidia’s share price, which fell by 5.4%. Investors also assessed mixed signals from the latest jobs report. While it indicated a stronger-than-expected February payroll figure, downward revisions for January and December gains, along with an unexpected rise in unemployment, raised concerns.
The European stock market was volatile during the week, as investors digested the mixed bag of central bank signals. While the European Central Bank (ECB) held the key interest rates at record highs, they also hinted at a potential shift. The ECB acknowledged that inflation is easing faster than expected, opening the door for rate cuts later in 2024.
The Asian stock market closed the week in the green zone, buoyed by strong trade data from China, which boosted investor sentiment across the region. China’s trade surplus for the first two months of 2024 came in much higher than expected, suggesting resilience in their export market despite global economic concerns.
Week’s Highlights
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